INFO:
Don Williams whose real name is Thomas
Wendel was born 1981 in Wittenberg in
the former German Democratic Republic.
During the early years as a teenager
he received a classic musical
education that was followed by a
profound interest for electronic
music. 1995 he made the first steps to
create own computer-based music.
1999 Four years later he co-founded
the techno label Tokomak that was
picked up by DJs like Juan Atkins,
Derrick May, Claude Young, Mark Broom,
DJ Rolando, Ben Sims, Samuel L
Session, DJ Shufflemaster and many
others. In the meantime he developed
his skills as a DJ and had various
residences in the local club scene.
Due to the label-work he was connected to UK’s legendary Mark Broom and
contributed two Solo EPs on the infamous Pure Plastic imprint as well as
two EPs on its techhouse subsidiary Rewired Records.
After meeting DJ Shinedoe at Tresor in 2003 he got in touch with the Dutch
Techno scene of Amsterdam and a close friendship between Shinedoe and her
friend Dylan Hermelijn aka ’2000 and One’ grew upon that event. Don also
did a track for the classic 100% Pure label from Amsterdam.
In 2004 Don was helping the label Styrax Records from Berlin to get started
in the music business, because of his passion for graphic and design he did
the whole label artwork for Styrax Records and Styrax Leaves as well as A&R
jobs and was also releasing three EPs on these two imprints.
In 2005 Don founded his own deephouse label called Mojuba Records, from the
very first release on it was played by globetrotting DJs like Luciano,
Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Tobi Neumann and many others.
Therefore the hand stamped records are very sought after and due to the
limited quantity they quickly became real collectors items. The Mojuba
imprint delivers with almost every release so called „underground club
hits“, that’s why it is dealt as one of the hottest deephouse labels in
Germany right now, if your are looking for quality deephouse stuff in the
likes of Prescription, Ibadan or Charles Webster!
One year later, Don founded the Mojuba-Sublabel called A.R.T.less which
focuses on classic Detroit Techno Soul and deep Techno in general. This
sisterlabel follows the same hand stamped art-concept as Mojuba and became
very popular and demanded as well, the first two releases got charted on
the 3rd rank in the German Groove magazine which speaks for itself. Don’s
„Detroit Black EP“ on A.R.T.less was included by BPitch’s Ellen Allien for
the famous Fabric Mix CD series.
Other tracks from the label’s catalogue had been included by Sven Vaeth and
Tobi Neumann for recent Cocoon Records Mix CDs.
Today Don is playing frequently at Berghain/Panorama Bar Berlin/Germany and
is promoting own parties in Berlin as well.
In the past Don played at following clubs:
SO36, Berlin
Raumklang, Berlin
Tokomak Nights at the old Tresor, Berlin
Shinedoe’s Inmotion Night at Studio 80, Amsterdam
Wang Party at the Premises, London
Basic Needs at T-Bar, London
Mule Electronic 4th Anniversary at Yellow Space Lab, Tokyo
numberous gigs in the local club scene around Berlin
Demo Mixes:
Techno Mix for Tweak FM Copenhagen
http://www.mojubarecords.com/mixes/radioshow1donwilliams.mp3
House Mix for Radioshow in Sapporo
http://www.mojubarecords.com/mixes/radioshow2donwilliams.mp3
Information on the Internet:
Full discography: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Don+Williams
The labels:
Mojuba Records: http://www.discogs.com/label/Mojuba
A.R.T.less Records: http://www.discogs.com/label/a.r.t.less
Tokomak Records: http://www.discogs.com/label/Tokomak
Plublic Reactions:
German Groove Magazine TOP 50:
Oracy – Family Day / Mojuba 003 Rank 2 (Issue #102 Sep/Oct 2006)
Don Williams – Detroit Black EP Rank 3/ A.R.T.less 2201 (Issue #104 Jan/Feb 2007)
Marko Fürstenberg – Surphased EP Rank 3/ A.R.T.less 2199 (Issue #106 May/Jun 2007)
Don Williams – Detroit Red EP Rank 19/ A.R.T.less 2201 (Issue #111 Mar/Apr 2008)
De:Bug Magazine Interview (in German):
http://www.de-bug.de/texte/4975.html
Upcoming Label-related stuff:
Mojuba 010 – Bernard Badie – Time Reveals Jun 2008
A.R.T.LESS 2195 – Tob Jona – Troika EP May 2008
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